Update Regarding COVID-19
Friends,
In light of the constant barrage of information and news surrounding the current COVID-19 Coronavirus situation, and the resulting confusion due to related economic uncertainty, we wanted to offer some grounded input.
First and foremost, we hope that all of you are staying safe and well. In an effort to maintain the health of all of our clients as well as our staff, we are following all government-mandated social distancing requirements. Although we are operating normally at our offices at this time, we are prepared to transition to remote work in the event that the government requires us to close our offices, or if the circumstances oblige. Rest assured that all of your data will be handled in accordance with our strict privacy policies even in such settings.
Further, if you have any appointments scheduled at any of our offices but begin experiencing symptoms of any kind (not only the known symptoms of COVID-19), we request that you notify our office so that we can (a) reschedule your appointment for a later time, or (b) utilize technology to handle the meeting and deliverables remotely. Remote meetings can be conducted using a variety of tools including secure document portals, e-signatures, telephone, screen sharing, and secure video conferencing.
On a positive note, you don’t have to be feeling ill to request a virtual meeting! Over the past few years, we have been evolving our firm to take advantage of the tools listed, having initially rolled out some of the options to our out-of-state clients. Now we are excited to announce that they are ready for general availability.
Beyond the concern of the virus itself, we realize that many individuals and businesses are currently experiencing significant financial uncertainty and hardship, due to both general economic factors rippling out, and direct government intervention in order to slow the rate of spread of the virus. You have our deepest sympathies.
During this time, we are doing our utmost to keep abreast of developments related to income tax, payroll, economic stimulus payments, small business loans, and much more. If you have specific questions, please contact us and we will get you an answer as fast as we can. While it is impossible to list all of the developments of the last weeks in a short email, it is worth noting a few of the most important:
On Friday, the IRS announced that it is extending the deadline for both filing and payments of taxes normally due on April 15 until July 15 for this year. This means that Q1 2020 estimated payments are due on July 15 instead of April 15 this year. This extension does not apply to other taxes other than income taxes and self-employment taxes, or to information returns other than tax returns.
The states have differing policies related to this extension. For instance, as it stands right now North Carolina the relief extends the filing deadline to July 15 for individual income, corporate, and franchise taxes, but does not apply to other entities such as trusts. Further, according to current state law, NC must continue to charge interest, currently at a rate of 5% per year. If you have a question about a specific state, please contact us.
Today, the IRS announced that it is extending the due dates for contributing to IRA, HSA, and Archer MSA accounts to July 15.
The IRS is encouraging all taxpayers that are able to file sooner than the July 15 deadline, to do so, especially if they are entitled to a refund.
Thank you so much for the confidence you put in our team to serve you, and to help you navigate complexity. We’ll continue to do our best to be a source of sound and trusted advice through this difficult time.
For bite sized updates, please follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn @statoncpa. We’ll also be posting on our blog and website.
Best Regards,
Staton CPA, P.C.